19 So shall they fear the name of Yahweh from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come as a rushing stream, which the breath of Yahweh drives.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Therefore they shall fear the name of Jehovah. He now testifies that this work of redemption shall be so splendid and illustrious, that the whole world shall wonder, behold, praise, and celebrate, and, struck with fear, shall render glory to God. It is uncertain whether he means the conversion of the Gentiles, or the terror with which God dismays his enemies. For my own part, I am more inclined to the former opinion, that, even to the utmost boundaries of the earth, the name of God shall be revered and honored, so that the Gentiles shall not only tremble, but shall serve and adore him with true repentance. For [1] the enemy shall come as a river. As to the reason now assigned, commentators differ. But the true meaning, in my opinion, is, that the attack of the enemy shall be so furious that, like a rapid and impetuous torrent, it shall appear to sweep away and destroy everything, but that the Lord shall cause it instantly to subside and disappear. It is therefore intended to heighten the description of the divine power, by which the vast strength and dreadful fury of the enemies are repelled, receive a different direction, and fall to pieces. A question now arises, "What redemption does the Prophet mean?" I reply, as I have already suggested on another passage, that these promises ought not to be limited, as is commonly done, to a single redemption; for the Jews refer it, exclusively to the deliverance from Babylon, while Christians refer it to Christ alone. For my part, I join both, so as to include the whole period after the return of the people along with that which followed down to the coming of Christ; for this prophecy was not fulfilled but in Christ, and what is said here cannot apply to any other. Never was the glory of God revealed to the whole world, nor were his enemies put to flight so as not to recover their strength, till Christ achieved a conquest and illustrious triumph over Satan, sin, and death.
1 - "Whether ky (ki) be rendered when or for, the sense remains essentially the same, because the one implies the other. The only weighty reasons for preferring the latter are, first, its natural priority as being the usual and proper sense, and then the simplicity of structure which results from it as being more accordant with the genius and usage of the language." Alexander
So shall they fear - That is, the result of the divine interposition to punish his enemies, shall be to secure the acknowledgment of the existence and perfections of Yahweh in every part of the world. See especially the notes at Isaiah 45:6.
When the enemy shall come in - There has been great variety in the interpretation of this passage, and it is remarkable that our translators have departed from all the ancient versions, and that the present translation differs from nearly all the modern expositions of the place. Lowth renders it:
When he shall come like a river straitened in his course,
Which a strong wind driveth along.
Jerome (the Vulgate) renders it, 'When he shall come as a violent river which the Spirit of the Lord (spiritus Domini, or the wind of the Lord, that is, a strong wind) drives along. The Septuagint, 'For the wrath of the Lord will come like an impetuous stream; it will come with fury.' The Chaldee, 'When they shall come who oppress, like an overflowing of the river Euphrates.' The Syriac, 'Because when the oppressor shall come as a river, the Spirit of the Lord shall humble him.' The reason of this variety of interpretation is the ambiguity of the Hebrew words which occur in the verse. The word which in our common version is rendered 'the enemy' (צר tsâr, from צרר tsârar, to press, compress, bind up together; intrans. to be straitened, or compressed), may mean either:
1. "An adversary, enemy, persecutor," synonymous with אויב 'ôyēb, as in Numbers 10:9; Deuteronomy 32:27; Job 16:9; or,
2. "Straits, affliction" Psalm 4:2; Psalm 18:7; Psalm 44:11; or,
3. "Strait, narrow" Numbers 22:26; Job 41:7.
'It may be, therefore, here either a noun meaning an enemy; or it maybe an adjective qualifying the word river, and then will denote a river that is closely confined within its banks, and that is urged forward by a mass of accumulating waters, or by a mighty wind. According to this, it will mean that Yahweh will come to take vengeance with the impetuosity of a river that swells and foams and is borne forward with violence in its course. The comparison of a warrior or hero with such a mighty and impetuous torrent, is exceedingly forcible and beautiful, and is not uncommon (see the notes at Isaiah 8:7). The phrase rendered 'the Spirit of the Lord' (יהוה רוח rûach yehovâh), may denote 'the wind of Yahweh,' or a strong, violent, mighty wind. The appropriate signification of the word רוח rûach, is wind, or breath; and it is well known that the name of God is often in the Scriptures used to denote that which is mighty or vast, as in the phrase, mountains of God, cedars of God, etc.
There is no reason why it should be here regarded as denoting 'the Spirit of God,' - the great agent of enlightening and reforming the world. It may be understood, as Lowth and others have applied it, to denote a strong and violent wind - a wind urging on a mass of waters through a compressed and straitened place, and thus increasing their impetuosity and violence. The phrase 'Spirit of God' (אלהים רוח rûach 'ĕlohı̂ym), is used to denote a strong wind, in 1-Kings 18:12; 2-Kings 2:16; Isaiah 40:7; Ezekiel 12:14; Ezekiel 13:13. The word rendered in our version, 'shall lift up a standard' (נססה nosesâh), rendered in the margin, 'put him' to flight,' if derived from נסס nāsas, and if written with the points נססה nāsesâh, would denote to lift up, to elevate, as a standard or banner, or anything to oppose and retard a foe. But the word is probably derived from נוּס nûs, to flee, in the Piel נוסס nôsēs, "to impel, to cause to flee."
Here it means, then, that the mighty wind impels or drives on the compressed waters of the stream, and the whole passage means that Yahweh would come to deliver his people, and to prostrate his foes with the impetuosity of a violent river compressed between narrow banks, and driven on by a mighty wind. True, therefore, as it is, that when a violent enemy assails the church; when he comes in with error, with violence, and with allies, like a flood, Yahweh will rear a standard against him, and the influences of the Spirit of God may be expected to interpose to arrest the evil; yet this passage does not teach that doctrine, nor should it be so applied. It does teach that Yahweh will go forth with energy and power to defend his people and to prostrate his foes.
When the enemy shall come in like a flood - This all the rabbins refer to the coming of the Messiah. If ye see a generation which endures much tribulation, then (say they) expect him, according to what is written: "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him."
Kimchi says, he that was the standard-bearer always began the battle by first smiting at the enemy. Here then the Spirit of the Lord is the standard-bearer, and strikes the first blow. They who go against sin and Satan with the Holy Spirit at their head, are sure to win the day.
The Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him "Which a strong wind driveth along" - Quam spiritus Domini cogit, "Which the Spirit of the Lord drives on." - Vulg. נוססה nosesah, pihel a נוס nus fugit. Kimchi says his father thus explained this word: נוססה nosesah interpretatur in significatione fugae, et ait, spiritus Domini fugabit hostem;-nam secundum eum נוססה nosesah est ex conjugatione quadrata, ejusque radix est נוס nus: "nosesah he interpreted in the signification of flight, - The Spirit of the Lord shall put the enemy to flight; for according to him the root of the word is נוס nus, he put to flight." The object of this action I explain otherwise. The conjunction ו vau, prefixed to רוח ruach, seems necessary to the sense, it is added by the corrector in one of the Koningsberg MSS., collated by Lilienthal. It is added also in one of my own.
So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall (s) come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.
(s) He shows that there will be great affliction in the Church, but God will always deliver his.
So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun,.... The eastern and western antichrist being destroyed, way shall be made for the spread of the Gospel east and west; which shall be everywhere embraced, and the true worship of God set up; and the glorious name of the Lord, or the Lord who is glorious in his name, nature, perfections, and works, shall be feared and served from the rising of the sun to the setting of the same, or by all nations under the heavens; see Malachi 1:11 and even those that are left in the antichristian states, and escape the general ruin, shall be frightened at his judgments, fear his great and awful name, and give glory to the God of heaven, Revelation 11:13.
when the enemy shall come in like a flood; when Satan, the common "enemy" of mankind, the avowed and implacable enemy of Christ and his people, "shall come" into the world, and into the church, as he will in the latter day; and has already entered "like" an impetuous flood, threatening to carry all before him, introducing a flood of immorality and profaneness, as in the days of Noah and Lot, to which the times of the Son of Man's coming are likened, Luke 17:26 or else a flood of error and heresy of all sorts; see Revelation 12:15 and likewise a flood of persecution, as will be at the slaying of the witnesses, that hour of temptation that will come upon all the earth, to try the inhabitants of it, Revelation 3:10. Aben Ezra compares this passage with, and illustrates it by, that time of trouble which will be, such as never was since there was a nation, Daniel 12:1 when this will be the case, which seems to be near at hand:
the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him; Christ and his Gospel, or Christ the standard lifted up in the ministry of the Gospel, Isaiah 11:10 a set of ministers shall be raised up, having the everlasting Gospel, which they shall publish to all nations, and which shall have an universal spread; and by means of which the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea; and which will be a sufficient check to the enemy's flood of immorality, error, and persecution; and which, after this, shall be no more; see Revelation 14:6. Some render the words, "when he", the glorious name of the Lord, or he who is the glory of the Lord, the brightness of his glory;
shall come like a narrow flood, that flows with great swiftness and force, and carries all before it;
the Spirit of the Lord lifting him up for a standard (l), that is, in the ministry of the word; "so shall they fear", &c.; then multitudes shall serve the Lord, and worship him. The Targum is,
"they that afflict shall be as the overflowing of the river Euphrates; by the word of the Lord shall they be broken;''
and Vitringa thinks there is an allusion to the river Euphrates; interpreting the enemy of the Ottoman Turks, Tartars, and Scythians, stirred up by Satan to distress the church: all this may be applied to the case of particular believers under the assaults of Satan their grand enemy; who seeks all occasions to disturb their peace and destroy their comfort, though he cannot ruin their souls; he comes in, not only into their houses where they dwell, and gives them disturbance there; and into the house of God where they worship, and does all he can to hinder them in attending on the word and ordinances, and to prevent all usefulness, edification, and comfort thereby; but he enters into their hearts, and stirs up the corruptions of their nature, and causes these to rise like a flood, which threaten with bringing them into captivity to the law of sin and death; and attacks them with violent temptations, suggesting that they are not the people of God, the redeemed of the Lamb, or regenerated by the Spirit, but are hypocrites, and never had the work of grace on their hearts; aggravating their sins, and telling them they have sinned the sin against the Holy Ghost, and there is no pardon for them; and at other times filling their minds with blasphemous and atheistical thoughts; all which come upon them sometimes with so much force, that it is like an overflowing flood that threatens with utter destruction; when the Spirit of the Lord within them, who is greater than he that is in the world, lifts up Christ as an ensign or standard to them; and directs them to his blood for peace and pardon, for the cleansing of their souls and the atonement of their sins; where they may see and read, in legible characters, the free and full remission of their sins, and an entire satisfaction to the justice of God for them; and he holds up and holds out the righteousness of Christ unto them, with which God is well pleased, his justice satisfied, and his law made honourable; and by which they are justified from all things, and secured from all charges and condemnation; and who also leads them to the person, power, and grace of Christ, to preserve them in grace to glory, to keep them from falling, and present them faultless before the throne of God; the consequence of which is a check to Satan's temptations; an antidote to the doubts and fears he injects; and an abundance of spiritual peace and comfort; as well as it engages to fear the Lord and his goodness.
(l) "etenim veniet (sub. Dominus vel nomen Domini) instar fluminis angusti, spiritu Domini levante ipsum pro vexillo", Bootius, Animadv. I. 1. c. 1. p. 68.
(Isaiah 45:6; Malachi 1:11). The result of God's judgments (Isaiah 26:9; Isaiah 66:18-20).
like a flood-- (Jeremiah 46:7-8; Revelation 12:15).
lift up a standard--rather, from a different Hebrew root, "shall put him to flight," "drive him away" [MAURER]. LOWTH, giving a different sense to the Hebrew for "enemy" from that in Isaiah 59:18, and a forced meaning to the Hebrew for "Spirit of the Lord," translates, "When He shall come as a river straitened in its course, which a mighty wind drives along."
The prophet now proceeds to depict the ישׁוּעה, the symbol of which is the helmet upon Jehovah's head. "And they will fear the name of Jehovah from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun: for He will come like a stream dammed up, which a tempest of Jehovah drives away. And a Redeemer comes for Zion, and for those who turn from apostasy in Jacob, saith Jehovah." Instead of ויראוּ, Knobel would strike out the metheg, and read ויראוּ, "and they will see;" but "seeing the name of Jehovah" (the usual expression is "seeing His glory") is a phrase that cannot be met with, though it is certainly a passable one; and the relation in which Isaiah 59:19 stands to Isaiah 59:19 does not recommend the alteration, since Isaiah 59:19 attributes that general fear of the name of Jehovah (cf., Deuteronomy 28:58) and of His glory (see the parallel overlooked by Knobel, Psalm 102:16), which follows the manifestation of judgment on the part of Jehovah, to the manner in which this manifestation occurs. Moreover, the true Masoretic reading in this passage is not ויראו (as in Micah 7:17), but וייראו (see Norzi). The two מן in ממּערב (with the indispensable metheg before the chateph, and a second to ensure clearness of pronunciation)
(Note: See the law in Br's Metheg-Setzung, 29.)
and וּממּזרח־שׁמשׁ (also with the so-called strong metheg)
(Note: See idem, 28.)
indicate the terminus a quo. From all quarters of the globe will fear of the name and of the glory of Jehovah become naturalized among the nations of the world. For when God has withdrawn His name and His glory from the world's history, as during the Babylonian captivity (and also at the present time), the return of both is all the more intense and extraordinary; and this is represented here in a figure which recals Isaiah 30:27-28; Isaiah 10:22-23 (cf., Ezekiel 43:2). The accentuation, which gives pashta to כנּהר, does indeed appear to make צר the subject, either in the sense of oppressor or adversary, as in Lamentations 4:12, or in that of oppression, as in Isaiah 25:4; Isaiah 26:16; Isaiah 30:20. The former is quite out of the question, since no such transition to a human instrument of the retributive judgment could well take place after the לצריו חמה in Isaiah 59:18. In support of the latter, it would be possible to quote Isaiah 48:18 and Isaiah 66:12, since צר is the antithesis to shâlōm. But according to such parallels as Isaiah 30:27-28, it is incomparably more natural to take Jehovah (His name, His glory) as the subject. Moreover, בּו, which must in any case refer to כנהר, is opposed to the idea that צר is the subject, to which בו would have the most natural claim to be referred - an explanation indeed which Stier and Hahn have really tried, taking נוססח as in Psalm 60:4, and rendering it "The Spirit of Jehovah holds up a banner against him, viz., the enemy." If, however, Jehovah is the subject to יבא, צר כנּהר must be taken together (like מכסּים כּמּים, Isaiah 11:9; טובה רוּחך, Psalm 143:10; Ges. 111, 2, b), either in the sense of "a hemming stream," one causing as it were a state of siege (from tsūr, Isaiah 21:2; Isaiah 29:3), or, better still, according to the adjective use of the noun צר (here with tzakeph, צר from צרר) in Isaiah 28:20; Job 41:7; 2-Kings 6:1, a closely confined stream, to whose waters the banks form a compressing dam, which it bursts through when agitated by a tempest, carrying everything away with it.
Accordingly, the explanation we adopt is this: Jehovah will come like the stream, a stream hemmed in, which a wind of Jehovah, i.e., (like "the mountains of God," "cedars of God," "garden of Jehovah," Isaiah 51:3, cf., Numbers 24:6) a strong tempestuous wind, sweeps away (בּו נססה, nōsesa-b-bô, with the tone drawn back and dagesh forte conj. in the monosyllable, the pilel of nūs with Beth: to hunt into, to press upon and put to flight) - a figure which also indicates that the Spirit of Jehovah is the driving force in this His judicially gracious revelation of Himself. Then, when the name of Jehovah makes itself legible once more as with letters of fire, when His glory comes like a sea of fire within the horizon of the world's history, all the world form west to east, from east to west, will begin to fear Him. But the true object of the love, which bursts forth through this revelation of wrath, is His church, which includes not only those who have retained their faith, but all who have been truly converted to Him. And He comes (וּבא) a continuation of יבא) for Zion a Redeemer, i.e., as a Redeemer (a closer definition of the predicate), and for those who turn away from apostasy (פשׁע שׁבי, compare Isaiah 1:27, and for the genitive connection Micah 2:8, מלחמה שׁוּבי, those who have turned away form the war). The Vav here does not signify "and indeed," as in Isaiah 57:18, but "more especially." He comes as a Redeemer for Zion, i.e., His church which has remained true, including those who turn again to Jehovah from their previous apostasy. In Romans 11:26 the apostle quotes this word of God, which is sealed with "Thus saith Jehovah," as a proof of the final restoration of all Israel; for יהוה (according to the Apocalypse, ὁ ὤν καὶ ὁ ἦν καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος) is to him the God who moves on through the Old Testament towards the goal of His incarnation, and through the New Testament towards that of His parousia in Christ, which will bring the world's history to a close. But this final close does not take place without its having become apparent at the same time that God "has concluded all in unbelief that He may have compassion upon all" (Romans 11:32).
Fear - Worship the Lord. The west - The western part of the world. His glory - The glorious God. The rising of the sun - The eastern parts. When - At what time soever the devil, or his instruments shall make violent irruptions upon the church. A standard - God shall make known himself to take their part and defend them, by his spirit alone.
*More commentary available at chapter level.